Metal roofs with standing seams have been in long use in the United States and throughout the world.
The metal roofs have the advantage of being long lasting and light in weight. The roofs are popular for use on soaring, expensive structures such as churches and cathedrals. Standing seam roofs have been widely used on rural buildings such as barns and houses where low maintenance, long lasting and lightness qualities have been greatly appreciated.
The long lasting qualities of standing seam roofs may be appreciated when driving through rural areas and seeing old structures which have not been maintained still standing and still in good structural shape because of the integrity of the standing seam metal roofs.
Standing seam metal roofs have come into wide favor in the United States, Europe and in other countries on new public and private buildings and on upscale houses.
One problem of standing seam roofs which is in part responsible for their long lasting qualities and protection of the structures on which the roofs are placed is that accumulated snow and ice readily slides from the roofs in large chunks, which are capable of damaging shrubbery planted near the structures.
To avoid the sliding of large coherent pieces of snow and ice from the roofs, snow stops are employed.
Great care must be exercised in the design and placement of snow stops to ensure that the snow stops do not violate the integrity of the roof, and that the snow stops do not provide dams for accumulating water and debris behind the snow stops, which might be sufficient to create acidic cells to adversely act upon the roofing.
One of the problems in designing snow stops is that standing seam roofs have many different seam configurations, which must be accommodated by the snow stops.